The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia Chapter 361, “Abnormal Happenings" by Kohei Horikoshi available in English from Viz Media.
In this chapter of My Hero Academia the heroes are finally able to turn the tables, and the one’s leading the charge are the UA high school big three. Mirio, Tamaki, and Nejire’s teamwork are put on full display in this chapter as they not only successfully protect Bakugo and the other heroes from Shigiraki but may actually have a chance at putting pressure on him. On the flip side, Shigiraki is relentless, having been triggered by Lemillion’s words his rampage ensues, and even with being outnumbered he is still a force. The conflict continues to escalate in this chapter and keeps weaving more complexities as the excitement grows.
Last chapter of My Hero Academia the squad was successful in protecting Bakugo and keeping the battle going, but most of the efforts were led by Lemillion and Hado. Tamaki’s single strike served to do nothing, while most of Mirio’s tactics had to be defensive. Hado’s energy was able to pierce the skin but could not get past the wall of fingers and hands but since Lemillion could phase through it, he wielded her energy as a weapon and used it to strike him. Now we get to see if those blows, as well as his words, had any effect on Shigiraki.
Tenko Shimura Has Friends
The chapter opens with the child Tenko Shimura having a number of hands interlocking around him as they reached towards him. Tenko, trapped deep within the recesses of Shigiraki’s mind, remembers that Mikkun and Tomo would play together all the time in his childhood. With this memory from childhood bubbling to the surface, Shigiraki snaps at Mirio shouting how he does have friends and he would take his dog Tomo on walks with him.
Mirio is shocked by the reaction he got and awkwardly apologizes, clearly disturbed by the change in tension. The next panel isn’t even of Shigiraki releasing an attack but just Mirio being swarmed by the hands. No context for how the hands got there but clearly the apology given to Shigiraki did nothing to quell his rage.
Mirio believes he hit a nerve but is more concerned about how his blow barely scratched him. The primary body of Shigiraki is more durable than the growth he keeps experiencing, and they need to change tactics to hurt him. Meanwhile, in the mind of Shigiraki we see All For One talking. Unbeknownst to the readers, up until now the mind of Shigiraki had already been taken over by All For One and he has been the one in control this whole time. But the little remnants to Tenko Shimura, Shigiraki’s identity from before he went down the villainous path and tossed behind his original self, still lingers within waiting for someone to save him. Seeing as how wasting time on Mirio, who he cannot kill but also cannot hurt him, would only stop him from removing the one he’s truly after, All For One turns the attention to Bakugo.
Nejire And Mirio Trust Tamaki
Mirio knew he could offer nothing but a distraction though. That was all part of the plan. Initially Hado and Suneater were set to lead the assault so Mirio could get in and save Bakugo. His quirk is fit for being quick, moving around to save others, and jumping from location to location.
He was also good at avoiding damage but recognizes they cannot win without a solid way of hitting him, and thus he would draw the attention of All For One and attack him just enough to be worth a distraction so Suneater could prepare to finish the job. Best Jeanist is ready to defend his student with his life, even though he is barely conscious but Hado launches energy spikes at him to pierce All For One. However, its to no avail.
All For One is too powerful, saying the facility the constructed is essentially just a self-constructed tomb for the heroes, and he ruthlessly launches appendages to pierce Hado. Hado has a flashback to when she was at UA and how others thought she was cold and uppity because of her powerful quirk but in reality she just wanted friends. As it turns out Tamaki, yes the shy kid who was inspired by Mirio, reached out to her by asking the same question Mirio asked him, “Who’s your favorite hero?”
It's because of that that she says she was able to get stronger. Both Miro and Nejire have always seen the potential and strength of Suneater, claiming his quirk has no upper cap because as long as he eats it, it will go into his body. So he eats. He eats the energy of Hado, and begins to manifest a body made of all the food he has eaten and there is over a dozen written on the page. So many of the words are blocked off by the actual transformation itself and it's clear the growth of Shigiraki’s body may finally have a rival as Suneater steps forward to challenge him.
Conclusion
It’s a little disappointing that a chapter so exciting was also incredibly short. Most chapters are anywhere between 15 to 19 pages, but this chapter was only 11 pages. It's worth noting this chapter was still very entertaining despite how short it was. The art itself was very good, but especially that last panel. The double page spread, as normal, was stunning, and the action shown in this chapter was decent. The most important parts about this chapter was the tension from the unstoppable monster that is Shigiraki and the character development of so many characters.
Learning that All For One’s possession of Shigiraki was all but complete allows readers the chance to re-read the last several chapters with Shigiraki and see its from his perspective. It also pushes the narrative of Deku wishing to save Shigiraki from All For One as the remnants of Tenko Shimura still being there means is someone that can be saved. Probably the best part is what has been foreshadowed by Mirio since him and Tamaki had their conversation back in season three. Tamaki is the one who can devour the sun meaning he is the actual strongest one part of the big three. Lastly, seeing Tamaki's character be so brave and now knowing how he approached Nejire and their relationship was adorable. The chapter was not the best action-wise but a solid take on the character's development and seeing their growth up to this point.